Icehawks News from the Nest - August 6, 2012

Welcome to the first edition of Icehawks News from the Nest. I plan to send updates like this through e-mail as often as there is news and information to report. They will also be posted on the Northwestern Hockey web site (www.northwesternhockey.com).

Board Composition

Over the past few months, there have been several changes in the makeup of the Northwestern Hockey Board. First of all, longtime Board member and President, Steve Smith, stepped down due to work and other time pressures. For those that don’t know, Steve Smith served as Vice President of the Washington-Gunnery youth hockey program prior to the merger with New Milford Youth Hockey to form Northwestern Hockey. His presence back then was instrumental to the success of the merger. Many of our current members don’t even realize that New Milford and Washington were separate youth hockey programs only six years ago and that is a testament to the hard work and planning that Steve and others put in to make the merger a success. Thank you, Steve!

We’ve also seen changes in several of our other Board positions. Scott Capriglione has stepped down as Coaching Director after several years of service on the Board. Rob Paltauf has taken over as Coaching Director, Jenn Golembeske is our new Secretary, Bill Mayers is our new Vice President and I was appointed President. We expect a few other changes in the near future, so stay tuned. A complete list of Board members is listed on our web site under the “Contacts” tab.

Midget Hockey

The registration process has taken place for our split season midget hockey program for our skaters planning to play high school hockey this year. Tryouts will be held at the Danbury Ice Arena at the end of August as follows:

Sunday, August 26, 2012 from 5:20 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012 from 9:10 p.m. to 10:20 p.m.

If you have not registered, it is imperative that you send your registration information in immediately. All information is on our web site under the “Midget Registration” tab.

Mite Hockey

Thank you all those that pre-registered your children for Mite Hockey this year. Based on the responses we received, we expect to field 2 mite travel teams and still have a healthy number of players playing in our new in house cross ice league. For those that are unfamiliar with the structure of our mite hockey program, details are on our web site under the “Mite Hockey” tab. Tryout dates for our mite travel teams are as follows (at the Danbury Ice Arena):

Sunday, September 9, 2012 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:10 p.m.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012 from 6:10 p.m. to 7:20 p.m.

More information will be communicated shortly, but please make a note of these tryout dates and plan to attend both tryout sessions if at all possible.

Goalie Discount

The Board has decided to offer a $200 discount to the goalies who skate on our travel teams (mites through bantams). The adjustment for the discount will be reflected on your final bill this September and is in addition to any family discounts that you may have. We are also hard at work on specialized training for our goalies. More details about this will follow.

Tournaments

This year, Northwestern Hockey will be running both of its holiday tournaments. Our Thanksgiving tournament will be for “A” level teams. Our Christmas tournament will be for “B” level teams. Dates and information are posted on our web site under the “Holiday Tournaments” tab.

As always, feel free to contact me or any other Board member with any questions or concerns you may have.